Philosophy of the Project
The Forensic Science Project was developed as a unit to allow students taking science the opportunities to develop and extend their scientific skills and processes at their own rate. I found this particularly challenging given the structure of the school day. I struggled with the tension between trying to complete a lesson in a specific period of time and the need to let students work at their own pace. This unit was designed to deal with this tension. Thus, for me the structure of how this unit is set up is as important as the activities themselves.
The unit consists of individual lessons or booklets that the students can complete at their own rate. The information they collect is put onto their own "forensic database" or forensic science lab book. They are able to access this information at anytime, even during a quiz or final exam. In fact, students are encouraged to keep their database/lab book neat and the information organized in a manner that allows them to retrieve information quickly. In some cases I had students complete their work on a computer to help them improve their organization skills.
Each activity has a different procedure that helps students develop a variety of general and science specific skills and processes. The activity contained with the lesson or booklet may require the students to perform comparisons, classifications, observations, measurements, predictions, as well as having them formulate hypotheses, control variables and interpret data. These skills are then applied in a performance based assessment where they use these skills to problem solve a crime.
During the unit the emphasis is on the process of learning how to do the activities appropriately and not on a final, correct answer. For example, in the final exam out of 60 marks, there are only 2 marks for the correct answer. The other 58 marks are based on the process the students used to develop a logical, defensible answer from their collected data.
Making this unit into a World Wide Web website will allow others to try this unit. You will find that many activities are not new, but rather structured in such a way to form a forensic science unit. To supplement this unit students may also participate in forensic entomology research with researchers at Simon Fraser University. This is an exciting opportunity for students to provide valuable information on the entomological environment in their area of Canada. More detail on this project can be found the the Research section of this website.
Structure of Each Activity
Each activity is designed to have two components - a teacher information section and a student worksheet. In order to assist students in working at their own pace, our school lab (Stelly's Secondary School in Brentwood Bay, B.C.) has "buckets" or '"trays" with the materials for each activity. Students can choose an activity and find the materials necessary to complete that task. It is not necessary to start with fingerprinting and then go to DNA fingerprinting. Some students may wish to start with the physical evidence activity.
On the management side of this unit, we try to keep all students working on the first five activities, then the Humpty Dumpty Quiz. Then we move to the second set of activities followed by the Lord Vampire Exam. Students who finish early are allowed to research other types of forensic procedures.
Guidelines for Forensic Database or Lab Book
The following is the guidelines our students receive when they start this unit:
Your Forensic Science Database/Lab Book should contain the following:
Also included is an approximate breakdown of how their grade will be determined. This is discussed with each class and does vary somewhat.
Password Information
In order to gain access to the research activities, assessment activities and directions on preparing synthetic urine and blood samples, a password is required. Please e-mail lsandner@cln.etc.bc.ca with your full name, your school name and address, approximate number of students to be involved, school and fax number. I will e-mail the login and password to you.
Please feel free to add to anything that is presented in the teacher and student work or assessment tasks at this website. All that I ask is that you send me a copy so that I can improve this website so that others may benefit from the wisdom of many.
Thank you - Lionel
Return to Forensic Science Project Introduction page